


03:23

by kasarin



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-09
Updated: 2017-08-09
Packaged: 2018-12-13 04:34:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11752098
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kasarin/pseuds/kasarin
Summary: Three minutes and twenty-three seconds. That's how long it takes before his armor's medical systems bring him back. Wounds fill with biofoam; lockdown holds broken bones in place; shocks to his chest finally —finally— start his heart. For three minutes and twenty-three seconds, Felix is dead. And then he's not.





	03:23

**Author's Note:**

> This may turn into something much larger at a later date. Enjoy!

Three minutes and twenty-three seconds. That's how long it takes before his armor's medical systems bring him back. Wounds fill with biofoam; lockdown holds broken bones in place; shocks to his chest finally — _finally_ — start his heart. For three minutes and twenty-three seconds, Felix is dead. And then he's not.

It takes hours for the retrieval team to find him. ( _Retrieval_ , not rescue; they come for his body.) They ask questions; they call for backup; one pulls a gun and declares she's ending it now. He can't protest. He can't say a thing. He screamed his voice away before they arrived.

They don't kill him. They take him into custody. They decide to keep him alive. 

Mid-examination, a Fed doctor cheerfully informs him that if he'd been dead for thirty-seven seconds longer, he would've suffered permanent brain damage. "Such a shame!" she chirps. His shoulders shake. She can't tell if he's laughing or crying. Neither can he.

The first weeks are a blur. He spends them drugged, delirious, and chained to a hospital bed. Which is fucking _hilariously_ unnecessary. His body is one big cast; he can't scratch his ass, much less stand up.

He gets visitors. He gets a goddamn _parade_ of them. Vanessa comes first, voice tight with anger to mask the hurt, and she announces that he'll be executed. He calls her a friend and smiles; she punches him in the face. The Freelancers take their turn, and _Tucker_ , and the rest of the fucking Sim troopers. They tell him that they're surprised he's not dead; that they wish he were dead; that he'll be dead soon enough. He remarks that dropping a ship on his head and throwing him off a tower didn't work, so they'd better get creative. Tucker snarls, "This time, I'll make _sure_ you're dead." Felix laughs in his face, and Tucker is forcibly escorted from the room.

Then a representative from the UNSC arrives. An uninvolved party. The most powerful player on the board. Felix sees his chance, and he takes it.

Convincing the UNSC to take him into _their_ custody is laughably easy. Vanessa's punch wasn't a private one. Nor was his attending physician's wish that he had brain damage, or Tucker's threat against his life. He tells the representative that any evidence they have against him pales in comparison to the _information_ he has to offer.

When they load him into a Pelican for transportation off of Chorus, Felix catches a glimpse of Vanessa shouting in a UNSC official's face. He grins and listens to her voice until the Pelican's engines drown it out.

After that, things are simple. The UNSC doesn't want _him_. He's a faceless, nameless mercenary. They want the man in charge. They want Hargrove. Felix is only too happy to provide.

He gives them every bit of information they ask for, and then some. He tells them how he and Locus were hired. He tells them how he was subsequently hired by the New Republic, and how he sold them Hargrove's weapons in exchange for alien technology. He tells them that, when the New Republic gained ground, Hargrove sent Locus to the Federal Army. He tells them all about Hargrove's orders to assassinate various leaders and the exact ways in which _Locus_ orchestrated their murders. He tells them that Hargrove was the one who wanted the Simulation Troopers; that Felix was sent to bring them in peacefully; that Locus got impatient and shot him in the fucking leg. He tells them about the way that Locus insisted they remain obedient to Hargrove and complete their mission, even after Felix got sick of the job. He tells them about Hargrove's threat to use the Meta's armor against them, and about Locus' desire for it; he says he shouldn't have been surprised, considering Locus' obsession with a certain Freelancer.

Then he mentions Hargrove ordering them to activate the Purge, and how Locus demanded a showdown with his _obsession_. At that point, what could Felix do? He wanted it done. He wanted to get off of that planet without being shot down. He wanted out. And when he finally got a chance to finish things with the Simulation troopers so that _maybe_ he could finally, _finally_ get away ... Locus helped throw him off a tower. Was that one of Hargrove's orders, too? Maybe. Hargrove was in charge, but _honestly_ , Locus is a fucking maniac.

Tell us more about Locus, they say. And Felix has so _very_ much to tell.

 

Recovery takes a long time. The trial takes longer. In the meantime, Chorus howls for his blood. Naturally, the UNSC refuses to hand over their key witness. Chorus fights the decision and winds up losing much-needed credibility. What a vengeful backwater they are, concerned only with their own planet, completely blind to the greater needs of humanity. Felix is just too _valuable_ to hand over to their "justice" system.

One Chorus-sympathizing news source publishes a story alleging that a decorated Great War veteran named Isaac Gates, a survivor of one of the most horrific battles in UNSC history, is connected to the atrocities committed on Chorus. They include a picture. (When he sees it, Felix laughs: he's in his dress blues in fucking boot camp.) The next day, the reporter is fired, and the UNSC expunges all records of the story. The day after that, the news source in question starts reporting the same Chorus-related news as all others: Malcom Hargrove's atrocities and the manhunt for the maniac mercenary Samuel "Locus" Ortez.

 

Felix walks free.

Officially, he's on parole. The judge calls it a formality. His counsel calls it shameful and files an appeal. The judge reduces it to six months. Felix tells his apologetic counsel not to worry. He survived all those years chained to Locus, unable to return to civilian life thanks to his misguided but _battle-forged_ loyalty to his mentally ill partner. What're six months compared to that? They shake his hand and call him a goddamn hero for all that he's done. Felix brushes it off. He's no hero, he says. He's just a man who wants his life back.

After six months, the UNSC returns all of his weapons. They return his armor, too. True to their word, it includes a little something new. It's the thing he insisted they give him in exchange for information on Locus. The price of safety, he'd called it, and never said whose safety he meant. A Strength Boost, courtesy of Charon Industries and Project Freelancer.

Felix arms himself to the teeth, dons his armor, and begins the hunt for his former partner.

 

Three minutes and twenty-three seconds. That's how long he was dead. That's the reason he wakes up screaming. That's the reason he panics when he's immobilized; that he flinches at every object thrown; that the one time he ventured near a ledge, he fucking puked. That's the reason his skin is a mass of scars, and his body is filled with metal. That's the reason he made goddamn sure that there's a bounty big enough to buy a fucking planet on Locus' head.

Felix will find Locus. He'll kill him. He'll be rid of the fear and the pain. And then? Well, maybe he'll buy that television the size of a billboard.


End file.
